In front of us was a destroyed city.

　The twenty-med high stone city wall was in ruins here and there, with the northern wall in particular crumbling heavily.

　Black smoke was rising into the sky from all over the city.

''........What's this?''

　The "Fifth Settlers" arrived in front of the city and stood at the scene.

　This was the city that we had set as our initial destination.

　The Shumurian dragon cavalry found something strange in the sky, and upon receiving the report, we rushed over to find the devastation in front of us.

''It's not true...''

　Solstice's complexion is also very pale.

　Both Illtimina-san and Kilt-san have a grim expression on their faces.



　Torchia crumpled to the ground from her knees, as if she had lost her strength.

　Poe panicked and supported her back.

　Towards us, who were standing there like that.

'There may be people in Toluga still alive!　All members, let's start exploring the city!

　General Roberto's sharp voice rang out.

　Ah.........

(Yes, no time to be dumbfounded!)

　Having come to our senses, we immediately started to act.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　It was a city of two thousand people.

　There were beautiful cobblestone boulevards and buildings made of red, blue, and yellow colored stones, and there was a fountain plaza at the end of the canal.

　Many dead bodies lay there.

　Some of them were soldiers and some were civilians.

(............)

　I felt dizzy and the smell of it made me want to throw up.

　I seriously suspected that this was actually a dream....

　But it was real.

　It seemed that this city had been destroyed within a few days.

　And in the search that took half a day, there were no survivors.

　Yes, zero.

　Not one person in the city survived.

　Turkia was taken off the search early on.

　Not very well, but I can't let her see this horrible scene.

　Iltimina and the others wanted me, Solstice and Poe, who were minors, to be taken off the search as well, but I strongly refused.

'I don't want to distract you from what's happening.
..........

　Kirt agreed with our intentions, saying, "Okay.

　And so we continued our search until nightfall.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　That night, the "Fifth Settlers" camped outside the city.

　Exploring the city, they found out some things.

''You think it's the work of the 'Black Great Ape'?'''

　When General Roberto received the report of his subordinates, his expression turned grim.

　This is the tent of the frontier headquarters.

　For some reason, I have been made to sit in on this, along with Kirt-san, Raydor-san and Aase-san.

　The knight who reported to me nodded yes.

　There were traces of demons in the destruction left in the city.

　There were also traces of people's corpses that had been eaten, and furthermore, about 20 corpses of the 'Black Great Ape' had been found.

　In other words, this town had been attacked and destroyed by the Black Great Ape.

　Kirt also said.

''I estimate that there were about a thousand of them in the group.

　A thousand!

　I was surprised.

　General Robert frowned.

''Are you sure you're right?
"A demon of this magnitude has left its mark on the land of the North.

　An expert in the defeat of demons, the peak of which was the 'Golden Mark Demon Hunter', answered clearly.

　A thousand 'Black Great Ape'.

　That's five times the number of groups that we, the pioneer group, were defeated in,''

　Kirt continued his view.

The reason for the attack on the city could be starvation," he continued. Every corpse of this town's inhabitants left traces of their bite.

　.............

(Hunger.........)

　Come to think of it, Mr. Mohaini also said that this is the year that the Black Great Monkeys breed once every 7 years.

　And when we hunted the Black Great Monkeys around the village, even Mr. Mohaini and the others who knew about the breeding were surprised at the number of demons that were hunted.

　That is, the number of Black Great Monkeys being driven out of their habitat was even greater than usual.

　In other words.

'....Maybe this year we're having a freakishly large population, not just once in seven years, but more than once in seven years?

　I muttered.

　The four representatives look at me.

'When you say it, Marle, it feels so true,'

　Mr. Reidle chuckles as he says this.

　The gaze hidden in Aase's helmet looks to the north, outside the tent.

''You mean those black beasts couldn't satisfy their hunger with just the food in their habitat, and thus moved south to the realm of people?''
Probably.

　Mr. Kilt nodded.

'Maybe it won't be enough for a thousand of them. If more than that number is moving around, the damage to the Trougans will be even greater.

　Terrible prediction.

　That could be that demon princess's intuition.

　...............

　For a while, silence dominated the place.

　Eventually, General Roberto exhaled heavily and

Where's the nearest Truga city from here?

　I said.

　Immediately, a large map was spread out on the table.

　It is an enlarged map of the entire area, based on the testimony of the head of the village of Mohaini.

　We all peeked at it.

'Is this it?'

　My little fingers touched a town about a hundred kilometers southwest of here.

　It's about three days if you want to move.

　Mr. Kilt gives me a difficult look.

I'm sure there are other signs to the southwest of the city that the Black Great Monkeys have moved on. This may not be a good idea.

　What?

(Does that mean that the 1,000 herd that attacked this city will be the next to hit this southwest town?)

　A chill ran down my spine at the possibility.

　General Roberto looked at the four of us with a keen eye.

"We leave in the morning at dawn!

　We nodded strongly at the words of Shumuria's proud general.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　With the sunshine shining, we 'The Fifth Pioneer Group' hurried in a southwest direction.

　Overhead, two dragons from the Shumurian Dragon Cavalry were flying overhead. The reason for the addition of one dragon was to keep a stricter vigil on the perimeter.

　The 1,000 'Black Great Ape' are, in fact, unsure of where they are.

　And once we encounter a monster of that scale, we won't be able to get away with it either.

(It's a dangerous situation, and so are we.)

　I can feel the tense tension from Iltimina and Kilt, who are walking by my side.

　Solstice is also staring forward with a stiff expression.

　Poe, too, is walking beside her with a blank expression.

''.........''

　The always energetic Turkia didn't even have a word to say now.

　Turkia's language classes are on hiatus, of course.

'I want to see the outside world.'

　That's what he said, Turkia.

　But it shouldn't have been that he wanted to see the world like this.

　Gyuu.

　I take Torchia's hand in mine.

　She looks at me in surprise.

　I said.

"It's okay,

　I didn't know what was okay, but I stated it strongly.

　He looked back into my blue eyes.

Uh-huh.

　Tolkien smiled a small smile.

　So for two days we walked through the land of Toluuga.

　And on the third day.

　The dragon cavalry dragons that were flying overhead suddenly roared loudly.

''Guo-On!''

　It's a horrendous voice that resonates to my lower belly.

　We look up.

　The dragon knight at the head of the dragon thrusts his sword-bearing arm forward, indicating far ahead.

　We immediately lowered our gaze.

(!)

　Far out in the wilderness, a cloud of dust danced in the distance.

　A town.

　Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a small town.

　And around it, countless black shadows were swarming around it.

　They were trying to climb the wall surrounding the town, and the people on the wall were desperately trying to drop them.

　They were fighting.

　The people of Tolga were fighting a swarm of black demons to protect their town, their people, and their families.

　The sight of it makes every hair on my body stand on end.

　The town was slowly being hunted down by the swarm of too many demons.

(But I made it in time!)

　General Roberto pulled out the long sword of the Thanatos Magic Armament and released it.

　Seeing this, all of the members of the 'Fifth Pioneer Group' held their weapons in their hands.

　''Shran.''

　I, too, pull the 'fairy sword' out of its sheath.

　Tolkien's large eyes were watching us as we did so.

　General Roberto's shining long sword turns to the heavens.

''It doesn't matter if it's the land of Toluuga. In order to protect the powerless, to show our warrior spirit, we will help the people of that town with the pride of the Shumurian people!　All members, charge!

"Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa!

　We started to run with a yell as the sword swung down in front of us.